Inefficient space usage like a car parking facility is a luxury in dense metropolises

Attention decision makers and urban planners! Thanks to Luke Ohlson’s time lapse video, we get aware of the great superiority of bikes when it comes to space efficiency. His video recording in New York City, USA, visualizes the use of parking cars and a bike sharing facility from the official bike-sharing system Citi Bike NYC. Both are occupying roughly the same amount of space. But they are far different when it comes to the number of users within a certain time span.

Cars Cannot Keep Up With Space Efficiency of Bikes

Especially in dense cities where space is rare and hardly affordable, inefficient space usage like a car parking facility is a luxury. According to a statement from Luke Ohlsen on CityLab, up to 200 trips by bike were taken in only over one hour. During the same time, just 11 trips by car were counted. In case you might not believe it, convince yourself and watch his video. And even without exact counting, it becomes clear very quickly that the car parking area is quite uneventful.

... to buy a pedal-assist e-bike with a maximum net power output not exceeding 3 kW

Grant schemes for energy conservation and renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic or wind turbines, are surely not unknown for some of us. The German KfW Banking Group, for example, provides subsidies for the energy-oriented refurbishment of urban quarters. The USA currently provides several subsidy programs for clean energy projects.

France Promotes Electric Bicycle Market and Thus Follows Norway

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But how many of us are familiar to e-bike subsidies? Which government or organization in the world is providing grants to foster e-bike sales and, therefore, clean transport? A right answer would be Norway. Only recently, as Treehugger wrote, France promotes the electric bicycle market with a €200 grant, too. Each French citizen is entitled to receive the grant once to buy a pedal-assist e-bike with a maximum net power output not exceeding 3 kW. The funding program shall run until 31 January 2018 as the French government site Legifrance states.

Hopefully, the French government evaluates its funding program. It would be interesting to know how many French citizens are taking advantage of the e-bike subsidies. In particular, how does the demand spread over the individual age groups and genders? Is the demand higher in urban or rural areas? How is about the demand in the different price segments also depending on age, gender or occupation, education, income, etc? In the end, it’s maybe possible to draw conclusions about the possible ways of future promotions.

How Do Other Cities Perform?

Subsidies for electric bikes are quite rare. Nevertheless, some other countries and cities try to encourage the use of bicycles in various ways, such as London, Singapore, Portland, Munich, or, of course, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The Moroccan city of Marrakech even became Africa’s first commune providing a bike-sharing scheme.

Especially for the British capital, such a funding program might be a worthwhile option to reduce hazardous air contamination. The current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is trying hard to tackle air pollution. Since taking up his post, he takes the subject very seriously as several initiated and developed measures and projects demonstrate.

An enabler for smarter mobility?

The European Cyclists Federation (ECF) has a goal to promote cycling to be a healthy as well as a sustainable means of reformation and transportation. Currently, their operations are limited to European countries, however; they consider that the challenges being faced are on a global level. ECF considers bicycles to be the solution for many woes of this world and for this purpose, they have launched a unique platform on bicycle sharing systems which help to boost cycling in different cities of the continent.

The platform for European Bicycle Sharing and Systems (PEBSS) by means of the Cycling Industry Club (CIC) provides a neutral, trusted and collaborative framework which will ensure a fertile environment for intra-industry discussions. Shared bicycle systems have provided great help in the growth of developing a habit of cycling daily. Prominent activities of ECF in Brussels will be very useful in placing the bicycle sharing system within the EU funding and policy discussions with respect to urban transportation strategy.

Bicycle sharing systems will help in developing an efficient urban commuting program (Paul Stratta)

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The main objective of PEBBS is to encourage the exchange of the practices of bicycle sharing systems and make this entire program a catalyst of city innovations – an enabler for smarter mobility. In addition to this, it will also promote Big Data-based structures for urban mobility as well as planning of bicycle sharing systems. Along with that, outcome-oriented and high-quality bicycle mobility systems and services are adopted.

The participations of the platform will be public bicycle share providers, connected bicycle producers and manufacturers, corporate leasing, system operators, cargo services, peer-to-peer system facilitators along with relative stakeholders and suppliers inclusive of NGO’s. In addition to this, cities and other urban planning corporations and organizations can also participate in the program across the European region.

The Director of Smarter Cycling/Cycling For Growth, ECF, Paul Stratton said that the cities have an ever-growing requirement of having true-world and contemporary information as well as solutions for combatting urban crowding, spiraling the transit costs of fixed lane, and to reduce the time wastage amongst citizens from the urban environment. Introducing the concept of bicycle sharing systems will help in developing an efficient urban commuting program. Using shared bicycle systems, urban commuting can be made more efficient along with contributing positively towards improved health outcomes.

Bicycle Sharing System Cyclocity in Vilnius, Lithuania

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The inauguration ceremony of PEBBS will take place on the 12th of June, 2017 after a day of ECF’s Velo-city conference in the city of Arnhem-Nijmegenin The Netherlands. Several working meetings of PEBBS will also be conducted to coincide trade shows of bicycle sharing systems like the Taipei Bike Show in the month of March and Eurobike in the month of August.

Currently, there are several supporters of the program which includes Cycleurope, ElectricFeel, Nextbike, BikePlus, the Accell Group, North American Bikeshare Association (NABSA), Stage Intelligence and PON.

The best thing about this bicycle sharing system is that commuters can move quickly, cheaply and more safely from the urban congested environment.

Bicycle sharing systems have been launched with the objective of sharing cycle mobility best practices that makes them accessible and which facilitates the development of collaborative synergies. In addition to this, the program also supports political as well as investment resources so as to grow a smarter cycle sharing system along with allied systems all across the region.

Relating to the per-capita investment, London will be on par with cycle-friendly cities in the Netherlands and Denmark

London is tackling increasing congestion and air pollution. The subject itself is not a novelty. Recently, the British capital was grabbing the headlines by announcing to have the largest electric powered bus fleet in Europe. However, London does not rest on its laurels. Next undertaking: Cycling in London. With a financial support of £770m for cycling initiatives in London up to 2021/2022, announced by the Mayor Sadiq Khan, expenditures for cycling will be doubled compared to the previous mayor Boris Johnson. An average £154m per year means an average per-capita investment of £17 yearly. In this case, London will be on par with cycle-friendly cities in the Netherlands and Denmark.

Two new cycle superhighways are planned to make cycling in London even more attractive

Ashok Sinha, CEO of the London Cycling Campaign, said: “This unprecedented investment in cycling shows the Mayor is serious about meeting his promises to triple the extent of London’s protected cycle lanes, fix the most dangerous junctions and enable boroughs to implement major walking and cycling schemes. It will help make London a better, greener, healthier and less congested city.”

An essential objective is to reach or exceed 1.5 million cycle journeys per day by 2025/26. Among other things, proposals for new cycle superhighways (CS) for a safer and faster journey from Olympia to Hounslow (CS9) and Tower Bridge to Greenwich in southeast London (CS4) are on the table. Consultations will take place in 2017. Furthermore, a complete traffic separation or relocation on quiet back streets of the 5km North-South route (CS6) from Farringdon to Kings Cross is on the way. Extensions for other routes, solutions for traffic-dominated junctions, a cyclist and pedestrian bridge connecting Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf, and the elimination of gaps in cycle routes are planned, too. In the past, London’s cycle superhighways attracted criticism for safety reasons.

Sign at the beginning of Cycle Superhighway CS7 in Colliers Wood, London

“Our plans include consulting on two new Cycle Superhighways next year, in addition to a new East-West Route. And unlike the previous Mayor, we will continue to focus on how we can minimize disruption and congestion as we push ahead with the construction of new cycling infrastructure.” says Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

Improvable cycling conditions on CS2 at Aldgate East tube station. The pictured cycle lane has been replaced by a separated cycle track in 2016 (Danny CC BY-SA 3.0)

Former mayor Ken Livingstone announced the first new bicycle routes, called Cycle Superhighways, in 2008. By that time, completion was scheduled for 2012 in order to quickly connect outer London into and across central London. Unfortunately, just seven cycle superhighways, CS1—CS3 and CS5—CS8, were ready to use. Cycle Superhighway 6 from Penge to the City and Cycle Superhighway 12 from East Finchley to Angel were struck from the agenda. In the past, London’s cycle superhighways attracted some criticism for safety reasons, which, in the best case, will have an end with the £154m yearly.

Bike-sharing in Marrakech - Host city of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change launched 10 bike rental stations

Marrakech. The first African city and fourth largest city in Morocco launched a bike-sharing scheme called “Medina Bike”. Year after year, there are fewer bikes but more CO₂-emitting cars and scooters on the roads of the North African city. On 7 November 2016, the host city of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change starts to work against this trend.

Bike-sharing in Marrakech with 10 automatic bike rental stations with a total of 300 bicycles

The Government of Morocco aims to create a turning point and initiated a change towards sustainable transportation. In order to promote clean transportation and encourage city inhabitants to use non-emitting vehicles, 10 automatic bike rental stations with a total of 300 bicycles were set up in key areas around the city. Implemented by the Environment Ministry of the Kingdom of Morroco, Medina Bike will be available 24 hours a day throughout the year.

Medina Bike – The bike-sharing scheme in Marrakech was launched at the COP22 (UNIDO)

“Today Marrakech becomes the first city in Africa to launch a bike-sharing scheme and we hope to replicate this activity in other Moroccan cities. It was rendered possible thanks to the leadership of the city’s management and the fruitful cooperation between the city, UNIDO and the GEF,” said Hakima El-Haite, the delegate Minister of Environment of Morocco at the launch ceremony.

The official provider of the bike-sharing scheme in Marrakech is Smoove, a French bike company and member of the cycling industry club. The whole bike-sharing system has been procured and deployed in less than four months after the competitive selection process. Recently this year, Smoove also installed, for instance, a fleet of 1,500 bikes in Helsinki.

10 bike rental stations in key areas around the city (UNIDO)

According to UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), there are a number of initiatives launched in Marrakech to promote sustainability and green development. As early as in July 2016, they city of Marrakech unveiled a new fleet of Spanish electric buses.